Thin-walled disposable plastic containers made by conventional thermoforming techniques have long been known in the art. Such containers, which are often used to hold food and beverage, are frequently used at parties, gatherings and other occasions where little or no clean-up is desired. Although these thermoplastic containers offer consumers with many benefits, there are drawbacks affiliated with their manufacture and use. For example, because of their extremely thin walls, these containers are subject to bending, distortion, collapsing and crushing when they are grasped by a user.
The art has turned to a number of devices and means for strengthening such containers. One solution has been to provide thicker material construction. However, this increases production costs. Another solution, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,154, has been to provide annular ribs in the container sidewall. However, the strength enhancement that may be achieved by using annular ribs is limited, especially in the middle regions of the sidewall, where gripping normally occurs.
Another drawback with such containers, particularly those containers having cross-sectional shapes that may, at least partially, be non-round, involves the containers not fully nesting one within the other when they are stacked. As is known in the art, containers are stacked one on top of the other during shipment, storage and dispensing. When stacked it is desirable that the containers be fully nested. If the containers are not fully nested, the stack of containers will take up more space than necessary and may become unstable. Additionally, it can result in multiple containers sticking together when a user intends to grab only one container from the stack.
Accordingly, a need exists for a disposable plastic container having a sidewall of increased strength, while avoiding the use of thicker material. A need also exists for a plastic container having features for ensuring the container becomes fully nested in a stack of containers.